In the podcast, I talked about my family’s love for gaming of all kinds, but one of the things I really wanted to talk about never came up in the conversation because we simply ran out of time. Video game addiction is a growing concern worldwide, and has (I believe) afflicted my own family.
Most gamers report that playing games bring joy to their lives (90%), and often claim that they are inspirational (79%), help with mental stimulation (87%), and relieve stress (87%). In fact, video games are credited with helping people stay connected with family and friends during the pandemic (53%), and many parents (66%) claimed it helped their children make the transition to distance learning. In fact, video games are linked to increased attention span and visuospatial skills, and, according to the APA, can improve cognitive skills, problem-solving abilities, mood resilience, motivation, social skills, and overall well-being.
Unfortunately, there is also a darker side to gaming. In an article posted by the Mayo Clinic, Edward Luker, L.P.C. describes how too much screen time of any kind can cause a surfeit of problems like poor sleep or insomnia, behavioral problems, loss of social skills, eye strain, neck and back problems, anxiety, depression, obesity, and difficulties with work or school. This is due, in part, to the way our brains process and react to sensory input. In the case of video games, our brains interpret this input as if it is happening to us – as if it were real.
“While playing a video game, the person's brain processes the scenario as if it were real. If the game depicts a dangerous or violent situation, the gamer's body reacts accordingly. This "fight-or-flight response" to that perceived danger is triggered by exposure to intense stimulation and violence in the game. Excessive video game use can lead to the brain being revved up in a constant state of hyperarousal.”
In time, this hyperarousal can become an addiction. Whenever we experience pleasure or hyperarousal, our brain releases dopamine. With repeated occurrence, the brain comes to associate the dopamine with the activity, so that we then have an increased desire to repeat the activity again and again. The more we experience the behavior, the more dopamine is released, and thus the more we are driven to want to repeat it.
So, how do we know if it is an addiction? According to Luker, it becomes an addiction when a person is no longer able to control their activity and it damages their health and relationships. Some symptoms and signs of a potential video game addiction include:
Intense urges to play that block other thoughts
Cutting down social or recreational activities in favor of video games
Continuing to play even though it is causing problems in life (work, school responsibilities)
Mood changes like depression, irritability, increased anger, poor tolerance, or aggression
Poor hygiene, lack of self-care, reduced exercise
Impaired attention in other areas, procrastination, and/or neglect of other tasks
Fatigue
Lying about the amount of time spent playing games
Game-related spending beyond what you can afford
Conflicts with family over video game use
MRI and PET scans of video gamers show more dopamine in the ventral striatum – the motivation and reward region of the brain. The patterns are similar to those found in gambling addiction. Video gaming has also been associated with other structural and functional brain changes, including attention, cognitive control, cognitive workload, impulsivity, and more. All of this leads to poorer mental health and less impulse control. Even worse, those with ADHD, depression, anxiety, and low social skills are most at risk. It’s not hard to see how it can happen.
At the beginning of this article, I mentioned that I believed video gaming addiction had affected my family, and although I feel it would be a breach of their privacy to name them, I can tell you a little bit about how it has affected someone I love very much. This person learned to play video games at a very young age and was quite proficient at it. A friend of the family shared professional knowledge explaining how very young children (under the age of 5) actually developed video gaming and computing skills in the language center of the brain. This was supposed to be a good thing, so the parents of this toddler allowed the gaming to continue throughout the child’s life. This family member grew to be an excellent student with a high IQ and continued on to college and a bachelor’s degree in a very challenging scientific field. There were a few hiccups along the way, but nothing really to worry about except maybe a little too much time spent playing online video games. After college came a good job with excellent pay and an apartment in another city, but with that independence came fewer people to answer to and more time to play video games. And then the global pandemic happened. Our family watched as this bright individual with a promising future became debilitated by depression to the point of not showing up for work, not answering phone calls, and not participating in family gatherings. When confronted about it, there is always a handy excuse and plenty of denial about the excess of gaming. It is all very reminiscent of other family members with addictive personalities – a common hereditary trait in this particular family line. It’s all very sad, because while alcohol and drug addiction are recognized by society as true disorders, there’s still a lot of disagreement about video gaming, and for most people, it’s probably completely harmless.
I probably could have become addicted to video games, too. In the early days of Nintendo and computer gaming, my husband and I would spend hours playing various games. Some of the hardest to set aside were the simulation-type games like SimCity, SimFarm, and SimAnt, where there were no “levels” to master or “bosses” to kill, and thus no natural “stopping” point. We both loved to play, but with only one computer, we had to take turns, and the “turns” kept getting longer and longer. We eventually settled on using what sci-fi author Larry Niven called a “droud timer”, allowing only short, 20-30 minutes windows of play before handing the controls over. The timer kept us honest, and the technique kept us from extending our use in search of more dopamine. Eventually, we moved on to other things, and it never was an issue. Little did we know that this kind of timed exposure is actually a common therapy for gaming addictions.
Where do we draw the line? How do we manage our video gaming so as to reap the most benefits in attention, visuospatial and cognitive skills, problem-solving abilities, mood resilience, motivation, social skills, and overall well-being without it disrupting our lives or leaving us isolated, anxious, depressed, or dysfunctional? And how do we help those who are struggling with these issues?
Let us know what you think by commenting below or joining the Facebook conversation on our MMC Chat group.
